SSDF’s Dinka Caucus supports Nuer and Equatorians’ MOU

Dec 12, 2006 — Members of Democratic Forum in U.S.A. who are from Dinka ethnic group express their support to Equatoria’s Solidarity International (ESI), Equatoria’s Professionals in Europe (EPE) and Union of Nuer Community in North America (UNCONA) for signing a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) calling for eradication of tribalism, clanism and sectionalism in Southern Sudan.

The Dinkas who are members of parties other than the SPLM would like to inform the international community and the Sudanese people that the problem of South Sudan is not between Dinkas and other ethnic groups, but between Gogrial-Aweil kitchen cabinet and the marginalized people of South Sudan. The SPLM under President Kiir has created a bourgeois clique in Juba whose job is to steal the oil revenue for South Sudan depriving the people of development.

There is variety of evils used by the SPLM’s kleptocratic clique to create a bourgeois class in South Sudan through corruption. First, they employ tribalism. Seventy per cent of constitutional posts in the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) are allocated to Dinka ethnic group. Second, they use clanism among the Dinkas. Gogrial County alone has four ambassadors from South Sudan portion. Third, they created sectionalism among various South Sudan ethnic groups to divide and conquer.

Contrary to false accusations raised by some quarters against the MOU signed between the Nuer and Equatorians, the need for eradication of tribalism, clanism and sectionalism was not started by ESI, EPE and UNCONA. Hon. Nhial Deng Nhial raised three reasons for his resignation from the GoSS: tribalism, clanism and sectionalism. Although his name may appear like a Nuer name, Nhial Deng Nhial is a Dinka from Tonj and resigned from the government because the SPLM’s Dinka clique led by President Salva Kiir deviated from the objective of South Sudan liberation. As the authors of Sudan Today newsletter clearly stated in the second issue, the Gogrial-Aweil kitchen cabinet is busy looting the oil revenue of the South for personal enrichment.

It has to be made clear to people of South Sudan that not all Dinkas support looting spree of the clique in Juba. We don’t condone the fact that wives of President Kiir and other Dinka bourgeois clique fly to South Africa every weekend for shopping using a presidential jet donated by South Africa to GoSS for government businesses. The people of South Sudan took up arms against successive Northern regimes to fight against economic injustice, political marginalization and racism. Unfortunately, the Gogrial-Aweil bourgeois clique is exactly doing what the Arabs have been doing to marginalized people of Sudan. Racism is replaced by tribalism; the Northern bourgeois clique is replaced by Dinka clique and the exclusion of Africans in the North is substituted with marginalization of other South Sudan tribes.

We call upon all Dinkas to reject the propaganda of the bourgeois clique in Juba who are now urging the Dinkas that the MOU signed by the Nuer and Equatorian communities is directed against the Dinka ethnic group. The tactics they are employing are reminiscent of the tactics used by white racists in the 1950s by condemning Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement in the U.S. There were white religious leaders who urged Dr. Martin Luther King not to campaign for equality in the U.S. arguing that “civil rights movement would disturb the peace”. Southern Sudanese who are demanding equality are not against the peace per se. However, they are demanding justice and equality among South Sudan ethnic groups. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made it abundantly clear that “where there is no justice, then there is no peace”. The only group that is responsible for creating instability in the South is the Gogrial-Aweil kitchen cabinet that excludes other ethnic groups by employing tribalism, clanism and sectionalism.

Aside from exclusion of most ethnic groups from the GoSS, there are Dinka clans who are also victims of discrimination. For instance, the Agar and the Tonj Dinkas are seen as enemies by President Kiir and his henchmen because they campaign for equality of all ethnic groups. On the other hand, the Anyuak ethnic group is one of the marginalized in the South. There is no Anyuak who is a minister in the GoSS or the state government of Jognlei although Anyuaks make up a sizable portion of South Sudan population.

We therefore call on U.S.A.I.D representative in South Sudan to support the call for the eradication of tribalism, clanism and sectionalism. The United States government has a duty to mitigate tribalism being practiced by Gogrial-Aweil kitchen cabinet at the expense of development in the South. The USAID would be held accountable for the looting spree in Juba if it cannot come out to condemn tribalism in Juba. There are institutions in Juba which are predominantly dominated by one ethnic group. The employees of one department in Juba are all from one tribe. Yet, USAID is silent on these blatant violations of equality and fair representation.

For Contact

Peter Arok Yak

Chairman of Dinka Caucus of South Sudan Democratic Forum in U.S.A.

Email: [email protected]

U.S.A.